View full sizeAl Roker is bringing his Lend a Hand Today tour to Birmingham. The public is invited to the Thursday event, which will be broadcast live on the âTodayâ show. (Special/NBC)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Before the devastation of the tornadoes on April 27, Al Roker had already planned to bring his Lend a Hand Today tour to Birmingham.

But after the devastation, the NBC “Today Show” meteorologist knew his charity caravan would be headed down South.

“We decided to include a charity that serves not just Birmingham, but the Tuscaloosa area as well,” Roker said.

That charity is the Community Kitchens of Birmingham, and Roker and his crew will be broadcasting live there on Thursday morning during the “Today” show.

“We’ll be giving them well north of $1 million,” Roker said.

The Lend a Hand Today program started in 2002 in the wake of 9/11, according to Roker.

“So many smaller charities were suffering because of money being diverted to 9/11 causes, which you can definitely understand,” he said. “We thought we’d do something to help them. Instead of doing just one charity, we decided on five cities, five charities, five days.”

That first tour brought about $25,000 to each of the charities. On this, the 10th anniversary, charities in Anchorage, Las Vegas, Houston, Birmingham and Charleston, W. Va., will receive more than $9 million.

“It’s enormously satisfying,” Roker said. “It’s a grueling five days, but you will not hear one person in our group complain. It’s a terrific feeling.”

The Community Kitchens of Birmingham is a nonprofit group dedicated to feeding anyone who is hungry. Find out more about the group at www.thecommunitykitchens.org.

The public is invited to the Thursday event, which will be broadcast live on the “Today” show. The show airs at 7 a.m. on NBC 13 in Birmingham taped, but the live event will be at 6 a.m. in a UAB parking lot near Community Kitchens’ Southside kitchen at 1024 12th St. South.